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Overview

Central Lake Cottage Rental Photos and Description

4 bedroom 2.5 bath, 3000 square ft with 100 feet of beachfront

At Ballinagh Cottage your friends and family will enjoy the beauty of the birch trees, the sunrises and sunsets on Intermediate Lake. The multiple docks are perfect for fishing, sunbathing, kayaking and accessing waterskiing boat or large boat slip for your own boat. The water trampoline and Large floating raft, water toys, 2 kayaks are also for guest use. The lengthy hard sand lake bottom is nice for children. The cottage is very roomy, enjoying meals or naps on large screened in porch. The master bedroom is considered a family suite equipped with gas fireplace, television and comfortable seating . The bunk room sleeps 6, multiple games and books and overlooks lake. The yellow bedroom has gorgeous linens, lake view and sleeps two (queen bed). The red bedroom has a set of very comfortable twin trundle beds, that pull out to make a total of 4 twin. There is a full bathroom upstairs, with bathtub. The full bathroom downstairs has a shower. There is another half bath on the main floor.

The living room is very large, looking onto the lake and land trampoline. The living room has oversized comfy furniture and a flat screen television. The kitchen is well equipped, pancake grill, Vita-mix for smoothies and juicing and an ice cream maker when not going into Bellaire for a sundae! There is also Weber gas grill for outdoor cooking. New dishwasher and stove have been added to the cottage.

You will enjoy watching the deer, eagles and loons on the 2 acre property along with badminton, volleyball net set-up. The adirondack chairs and outdoor seating are ample for large parties around the fire pit.

We will provide only bed lines, please bring bath and beach towels for your stay. Can be provided per request. Hair dryer, iron, small apartment size washer and dryer also provided.

We want you to love, enjoy and explore the area as much as we do. You are quite secluded at the cottage yet can access the cinema, mini golf,, Up North Furniture, consignment shops, awesome coffee shops and ecclectic dining at Moca, The Lunch Box, fine dining at Siren Hall. Sunday mornings during the summer season must be enjoyed at Brownwood Acres @ Torch Lake for flea market finds and doughtnuts. Also, live entertainment at Famous Short's Microbrewery Bar, open deck dining at The Blue Pelican and Dockside in a 15 minute drive to the Villages of Bellaire/Central Lake/Torch Lake. Casinos are within 20 miles.

Beautiful Lake Michigan shores are a 9 mile drive to (barnespark@antrimcounty.org) in Eastport. Grass River Nature Preserve in Bellaire is also a must see (www.grassriver.org) Torch Lake is next door to Intermediate Lake @ 13 miles. The beachy town of Charlevoix/Petosky is 25 miles away. The National Park of Sleeping Bear Dunes is a must see if there is time. If you can fit Mackinaw Island into your stay it would be well worth it.

About Maureen Gallagher

Our family has loved Northern Michigan for many years. It is where my Irish parents taught us to be part of the outdoors. We learned to water ski on the lakes of Michigan, as kids, as well as snow ski as adults. We learned to quiet the mind here in Northern Michigan and respect the beauty. We were taught the art of conversation around crackling fires, screened in porches and warm wooden docks. Thank you parents.

Maureen Gallagher purchased this cottage in 2013

Why Maureen Gallagher chose Northern Michigan

The private lake setting, the white birches and the short distance drive to the big Lake Michigan. The quaint 1920's cottage reminds us of where we came from and to enjoy the simple things in life like sunrises, listening to the sound of rain on the back porch, hearing laughter of the lake while sitting around a fire. There are so many things to do in the area or just sit back in the adirondack chair and enjoy the veiw.

What makes this cottage unique

Private beach setting, availability of Grocery Store/Market, beautiful restaurants, or simple dining, a beachy town, cute cinema, water parks, golf, tennis. Brownwood Acres at Torch Lake let's you step back in history, from penny candies to flea market to the history of the area.

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Reviews

Excellent!4.6/5 -

(14 traveler reviews)

Nice house, nice owner

Overall we enjoyed our stay. Maureen did a great job of communicating with me throughout the entire process. There was plenty of room for the 12 (9 adults 3 kids) of us to sleep and relax at the house. Everyone enjoyed the dock, water trampoline and sandy beach bottom.

One major drawback is the house only has one shower. Also the individual that oversees the house wasn't very responsive to a few of our needs. The garbage container was completely filled by the previous renters and we only had three hand towels for three bathrooms. It took three days for her to resolve the issues.

The house is a good value for the cost of it and we made some great memories.

Family Get-A-Way

There were 14 of us (8 adults and 6 children). We all had such a great time.

The large old home with so much character and amenities is what drew me in.

Add to it, the perfect location on a beautiful lake and we were in paradise.

The kids had so much fun in the lake kayaking, playing on the water trampoline and fishing from the dock.

Late nights included laying on the dock looking at the stars. We felt like we were in an observatory and saw many meteors. Daily volleyball in the back yard and family dinners on the enclosed porch all made for a fantastic vacation.

A big thank you to Maureen for all of the great tips and constant communication helping to make for a great week.

Submitted: Aug 10, 2016

Stayed: Jul 2016

Source: VRBO, from HomeAway

Owner's Response: So happy you had the 'entire upnorth' experience with your family. You were a pleasure to host!

Everything was fantastic!

We have stayed here 3 times and just love this cottage and the lakefront property. We had several families stay here for a week in July and we all had a fantastic time! There was always some fun thing to do from being on the lake, or having dinner on the screened in porch, or going to town for fun shopping, to "Short's Microbrewery" for a beer and an excellent meal, taking short drives to Lake Michigan or Charlevoix-We all loved it. The owner thinks of everything to make us feel at home and comfortable.Thanks for thinking of all the small details to make our trip so enjoyable.

Perfect Family Trip

The cottage was great for 7 adults and 5 children. Lots of room and places for different activities (screened in porch, living room, kitchen, etc). The beach at the dock was great for the kids to play and the gradual depth change allowed for plenty of room for water games, yet still deep enough for easy boat docking. Lake was great for watersports and cruising with access to public dock in town. Definitely a place to return to.

Wonderful experience!!

Our family of 14 rented the home for a week and couldn't have been happier with the entire experience. The home is beautiful and offered everything we could have wanted. It was clean and well-maintained, and Maureen was very responsive to any questions and issues we had.

The swimming, fishing, kayaking and boating/tubing kept our children and adults entertained (as did Short's Brewery!) all week, and we spent an entire day in Traverse City as well.

This is the ideal place to stay if you want peace and quiet, but also if you want things to do during your stay. We had a special celebratory dinner at the nearby Blue Pelican, and also had a family photo shoot, and couldn't have been more pleased.

We will definitely stay here again down the road. Thank you, Maureen!

Submitted: Aug 2, 2016

Stayed: Jul 2016

Source: VRBO, from HomeAway

Owner's Response: Such pleasure knowing your family had such a great time